Everything my townsman Rick Hausman says is typically judicious. As a fellow townsman and a Vermonter, my chief concern is that the probity of our state so long a matter of pride for me has been badly besmirched by this whole endeavor (involving a proposed youth detention center in Newbury). Our own zoning board rejected the proposal, and yet we, as Vermont taxpayers, are now paying the legal fees of an out-of-state private entity as it attempts to push through something to which opposition in our town is virtually unanimous. The whole affair simply reeks of corruption and
An angry group of neighbors turned out in force to speak out against state plans to locate a secure youth treatment facility in town, saying it posed a safety risk to the community and the town lacked adequate resources and infrastructure to accommodate it.
NEWBURY, Vt. It was billed as a “listening session,” and the listeners got an earful.An angry group of Newbury residents turned out in force Tuesday evening to speak out against plans by the state to locate a secure youth treatment facility in town,.
Instead of dealing with the problem head-on, the state plans to pay millions to a private company to retrofit a B&B on a remote dirt road to serve six 12- to 17-year-old males, and then spend millions more each year to have that private company run the facility.